Thanks to Mike Waters for sending this in to us.
From: WCH Oregon22 <info@worldchampsoregon22.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 25, 2022
Subject: Celebrating Steve Prefontaine’s Legacy
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Beginning our 14th year and 1,200+ postings. A blog for athletes and fans of 20th century Track and Field culled from articles in sports journals of the day, original articles, book reviews, and commentaries from readers who lived and ran and coached in that era. We're equivalent to an Amer. Legion post of Track and Field but without cheap beer. You may contact us directly at irathermediate@gmail.com or write a comment below. George Brose, Courtenay, BC ed.
Tuesday, January 25, 2022
V 12 N. 9 Steve Prefontaine Would Be 71 Today
Monday, January 24, 2022
V 12 N. 8 Book Launch of Jack Yerman Biography
It gives us great pleasure to announce an upcoming author reading and book launch by Bruce Yerman son of 1960 Olympic Gold medallist Jack Yerman. You are all invited. As some of you know, Jack and his wife have been through a lot in recent times, losing their house in the Camp fire in Paradise, CA. See the Zoom link below. And be sure to order a copy of the book.
George Brose
Inviting you to join us at the unveiling and an author read from the VICTORY LAP, and to wish a Happy Birthday to Jack!
· When: Sunday, Feb 6 @ 6 p.m. PST
· Where: ZOOM https://us02web.zoom.us/
j/5307202304?pwd= ZkFGUDBWYkNHakM0QzU4OHpkOFYrdz 09 o Meeting ID: 530 720 2304 - Computer Passcode: Gold
o Dial by your location +1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)
o Meeting ID: 530 720 2304
o Phone Passcode: 726016
Enjoy book info and video @ https://bhyerman.wixsite.com/
books
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We hope to see you!
Below is an article from the Ukiah Daily News that we posted a few years ago about the Yerman's and the fire.
“I’m lucky to have had this reprinted,” Yerman says while staring at the picture of him with his son Bruce as a baby, sitting in a trophy cup that he’d won in Philadelphia.
He stands up, walks to the front of the room and proudly places the photo on the TV stand.
It’s one of the few photos that Yerman has been able to reclaim — he purchased the photo from a newspaper — after his home was clenched within the grasp of the deadly Camp Fire.
Yerman’s home was a 2,600 square-foot haven nestled within the towering woods of Paradise. It featured a trout stream, a large swimming pool and a completely remodeled interior.
But the most important belongings inside the home of the 1960 Olympic gold medalist was the USA Olympic tracksuit and baby pictures of his children. All of them gone after the house burned in the Camp Fire on Nov. 8, 2018.
“We didn’t get to save much — like all the goodies you save over the years and the memorabilia,” Yerman said from his apartment living room in Chico. “The things that we all keep inside a secret box. It’s gone. But that’s life.”
Yerman, who was part of the gold medalist 1,600-meter relay team, has endured anything but a simple life. At 80, the longtime Paradise resident is left to piece back together his life following the Camp Fire.
On Nov. 8, Yerman and his wife, Carol Mattern-Yerman, weren’t even in the country. The couple took a nine-day trip to Puerto Rico to visit a family friend and were left helplessly watching what was unfolding in their hometown.
“We took a chance to have a good time,” Yerman said. “We watched (the Camp Fire) on TV.”
Mattern-Yerman’s daughter, Emily Vail, who was in Paradise, was the first to call Jack and Carol in Puerto Rico to alert them about the fire.
“At first my daughter called … she goes ‘It’s looking really bad mom. We’re leaving,’” Mattern-Yerman said. “The last call I got from her she called to say goodbye. She said ‘It’s a firestorm. I love you. Goodbye.’ She made it. But at the time she didn’t think she was going to make it.”
Jack and Carol were only married for about four months when the Camp Fire broke out. The two were living in separate homes at the time. Jack’s home was burned and nothing was saved, but Carol had arranged for someone to watch her small, white rescue dog named Brady while they were in Puerto Rico. Thankfully, Yerman had stored his gold medal at Carol’s home.
“(Carol) called the dog watcher and said ‘Hey get out of town, take the dog and take the gold medal too,’” Yerman said. “The dog and the gold medal were all we saved.”
The gold medal was won when the foursome of Yerman, Earl Young, Glenn Davis and Otis Davis finished with a world record time of 3 minutes, 2.37 seconds to win the 1,600-meter relay race at 1960 Olympics in Rome. Yerman ran an opening leg of 46.2 seconds.
“Guys like to keep their Olympic running outfits and pins … but I lost my donkey derby trophy. That’s about as good as a gold medal,” Yerman joked. “Those were some nice memories up there.”
Life before Paradise
Yerman had lived in Paradise since 1968, but was originally born in Oroville.He never lived in Oroville since his mother and father divorced when he was born. He and his mother moved to Woodland where he grew up and went to high school.
His father, an alcoholic and drug addict, ended up dying of an overdose in Sacramento at the age of 55.
His family never owned a car, meaning he either had to walk, run or ride a bike to get around town. That’s when he grew fond of running and just being outside.
“It was a great place to be a kid,” Yerman said. “We were kind of on the poor side. I never went on vacations so I had to make my own fun. The way I did was to go down to the park and play. It was a natural thing. I enjoyed physical activity.”
After graduating from Woodland High School, Yerman ended up attending college at UC Berkeley, where he ran track and played fullback for the football team.
“It wasn’t easy going to college,” Yerman said. “If you don’t make it, you’re a failure in your mind.”
Like everything else in his life, Yerman’s journey to the Olympics didn’t come with ease.
“Making the Olympics was a miracle for me — even getting there,” Yerman said.
In order to qualify for the Olympic Trials held at Stanford, Yerman had to finish in the top seven at the NCAA championships. Yerman was competing in the 400-meter race with the hopes of winning an individual gold medal.
“There are eight guys in the race. I’m in last place watching them run away. It’s over,” Yerman recalled. “As we’re coming around the last turn, a kid from Iowa falls down. I qualified.”
“Two weeks later, I didn’t have time to rest. So I was at Stanford, and I win. I was just lucky.”
In Rome, Yerman’s quest for an individual gold medal would end in the 400 semifinals, as described in the book “Your Time Will Come” by Jack’s son Bruce Yerman.
Yerman was able to still win gold as part of the 1,600-meter relay team.
Finding home in Paradise
After Yerman earned a master’s degree in teaching from Stanford, he and his then-wife Margo, began searching for a place to call home.The two first tried living in Santa Clara, but it wasn’t quite what they were looking for.
“We probably could have stayed there and done well, but we both just grew up in small towns,” Yerman said. “We said we want our kids to go to a town with one high school. Out in the country where the kids could run around a little bit.”
They started looking in Northern California, then Yerman landed a job teaching at Chico High.
“We drove around and liked Paradise,” Yerman said. “It fit our mold better.”
They rented for their first three years in Paradise before purchasing their home where they would raise their four children.
Margo Yerman died in May 2014 while holding Jack’s hand in their home.
The missing ring
When Yerman and Carol returned to California from Puerto Rico, they didn’t have a home to go back to. They stayed in a friend’s fifth-wheel trailer in the meantime while they were figuring out what to do next.Yerman, who had played for Cal in the 1959 Rose Bowl, had his Rose Bowl ring left behind in Paradise. When Paradise was opened back up to the public following the Camp Fire, Jack and Carol hesitated to go back to their properties and sift through the debris.
“We didn’t personally do much sifting. It was just overwhelming,” Yerman said. “Most of the things I lost were un-siftable. They were consumed.”
But Yerman’s son, Bruce, decided to look through the debris of his childhood home. Within the rubble, he found the Rose Bowl ring, charred with the center jewel gone and melted. The twinkle of the diamonds placed in the shape of a football had been diminished but they still remain intact.
Yerman wanted the ring restored so he sent it to Jostens, the company that made it. About six weeks passed and the new, restored ring had arrived. It looked identical to the original, but the original, burned ring had yet to arrive at Yerman’s home.
However, the original wound up in the possession of Tony Borders, a 31-yard old manager at Napa Auto Parts in Durham.
An unassuming white package arrived at Borders’ apartment. The packaging had Jack Yerman’s name with Borders’ address and no return address stamped on it.
“It was just a little white bag with his name and my address,” Borders said. “It was super weird.”
Often receiving junk mail, Borders didn’t think too much about the package. He placed the unopened bag on his coffee table, where it sat for two weeks.
One afternoon, Borders was tidying up his mail stack and decided to go ahead and open the package. There he found the burned Rose Bowl ring.
“I opened it up and went ‘Whoa,’” Borders recalled. “I didn’t want to take a brush to clean it up. I didn’t want to destroy it.”
Borders stored the ring in his safe, and then started doing some research. He searched the name ‘Yerman’ online and discovered he played in the Rose Bowl in 1959.
“I thought maybe the family was getting it restored as a memento,” Borders said. “If this belongs to somebody’s family, that motivated me even more to try to find out who it belongs to.”
Borders said he didn’t want to broadcast the ring everywhere for fear of an impostor trying to claim it. Instead, he reached out to Bruce Yerman on Facebook to try and get it back to his father. Borders and Bruce Yerman met up in Chico to give back the ring, a possession that Jack is thankful to have back in his life.
“I called (Borders) up and thanked him,” Jack Yerman said.
“What are the odds of somebody bringing it back?” said Mattern-Yerman.
Returning home
Both Jack and Carol said they are thankful they were out of town the day of the Camp Fire, but being removed from the situation still leaves them wondering what would have happened had they been at home.“I’ve got mixed emotions. Sometimes we’re thankful, we really are. But sometimes we wished we were there and what we would have done,” Yerman said. “A lot of mixed emotions.”
Yerman, at one point, was actually on the missing persons list. He had received a few calls from friends asking if he was alive. Since then, the couple has listened to some speakers and done some counseling to deal with the situation.
Yerman still tries to see the silver lining within the situation. His granddaughter, Tori MacKay, a sophomore at Chico High, wrote a song about Paradise that Yerman happily likes to boast about. And at their temporary home, Yerman has grown fond of his neighbors.
“There’s some very nice people here. Nice tenants,” Yerman said.
The couple now lives in Chico off of The Esplanade, in an apartment complex owned by Yerman.
Weeks before the Camp Fire broke out, Yerman was renovating one of the units.
The previous tenants had trashed the place, leaving behind soiled couches and black stains in the bathroom.
“It was disgusting,” Mattern-Yerman said.
After the fire, Jack and Carol lived in a trailer for about six weeks before making the decision to move into the renovated apartment.
Sunday, January 23, 2022
V 12 N. 7 Some Scattershot Thoughts on Roger Robinson's Article
Some of you by now have read Roger Robinson's article on racing as we get old, I mean really old like 80 and over. I've had a few thoughts of my own since posting that piece (Jan. 21). And some of them came to me indirectly from watching tv and reading in the last two days.
I first thought about all the good runners from their youth who ran themselves to permanent injury who are still alive but physically cannot go through the motions any longer. The guys and gals with hip replacements, knee replacements, or in need thereof as well as the runners with heart problems related to long term running. They are on the sidelines and will never return. Almost all of us loved it or we would not have run ourselves into the medical text books and statistical fallibility charts and maybe won a few races and medals along the way. Maybe we wish we had better equipment fifty years ago, better training methods, better coaches, better tracks, more masters competitions when we turned forty. Few of us were ever heard to say we wished we had never run.
Today's older runners fall into maybe three or four groups that come to mind. 1. The really good runners who were able to keep going into their 80's like Roger Robinson. 2. Then there were the mediocre runners who kept going all those years and may even be closing the gap on those older, more gifted runners. 3. Next come the guys who only discovered running in their 50's or 60's and are thriving near the top in their 70's and 80's. 4. And lest we forget, the late comers who would have been bringing up the rear at any age.
The two groups I would not want to be part of are 3. and 4. only because they never knew the thrill of speed. They started too late in life to feel the joy of burning up 220 yards around a cinder track in 25 seconds or better and repeating it several more times in a workout. The joy and pleasure of nearly flying on that track can never be experienced when you start beyond your prime. They knew what was truly their best in those days of youth. For that alone I am glad I started racing at age 14.
Now for a few things on the subject that hit me indirectly. Last night I watched a few minutes of Francis Ford Coppolla's "Apocalypse Now Redux". I put the subtitles in since my hearing is starting to go and found that I had missed a lot of dialogue even thirty years ago. At one point soldiers were in a very difficult situation, lots of rounds coming in and all seemed ready to be saying they wished they were back home. Then one of Martin Sheen's lines as Captain Benjamin Willard was something like, "But what could you ever learn about yourself working in a factory in Ohio?" Sheen may have been improvising a bit here as he was from Dayton, Ohio, definitely a factory town in his time living there.
Sometimes our senior best laid plans do go astray, to paraphrase a Robert Burns poem. Yesterday a 75-year old ex-paratrooper Jean Jacques Savin from France was found dead in his over-turned boat while trying to row the Atlantic. His adventure was a self declared laugh at old age. And of course Jim Fixx died while on a run as have many other folks in races over the years. When I run, I choose to run alone most of the time. I can't be tied to a schedule, I run when I feel like it. I know that someday I could easily take my last stride alone. But I will have experienced in my time some peaks and valleys in the sport and that will be good.
In another read Scribbling the Cat, Travels with an African Soldier Alexandra Fuller writes about a conversation with an ex-combatant, twenty-five years after. She writes....'K was speaking with a preaching voice, a voice that was supposed to reach into the dark, cool corners of a church, "We were all lost after the war,' he told me. 'I reckon most of us who stopped doping and sucking cabbage, we started to feel....shit! I mean, we actually started to think about what had happened to us because -you know- we had sobered up. How come we aren't dead? Where are we? Why are we here? What are we doing? We went from this incredible structure, this incredible focus and sense of purpose...You were either in , or out. Alive or dead. And then it was over and...All of a sardine, we had to figure it out by ourselves and what we found is that nothing seemed to matter about the outside world. It was all pointless. How much can it matter what kind of car you drive? How can it matter what you eat, I mean as long as you have enough to eat? How much can it matter what you wear? When you get down to it, what can matter more than being alive? But then what? You're alive and then...what?'
The film Chariots of Fire begins with a funeral of an old champion, Harold Abrahams. One of the themes of the film is about having once been young and fast, reliving those days of glory. Who can forget Eric Liddell's famous line from that film? "I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I run I feel his pleasure." As we age, that spirit is still with us even though we can no longer perform at that level. That is one of the downsides of sport. In other fields of endeavor we can continue to improve with age. But sport doesn't give us much option. There are a few exceptions but only very, very few. Maybe Roger Robinson has found a psychological road back to that fountain of youth. George Brose
Dear George:
If memory serves me right, I ran in one road race in Indiana that Roger ran in although it is also likely he was competing in the same two World Masters Track and Field meets in Canada and Sweden that I ran in. In any of the races he would have been far ahead of me.
While Roger wants to "race" us old timers should not dismiss just running. I stopped racing about eight years ago when an operation put paid to my ability to run long. While he runs outside a retirement community I'm running in the corridors inside one, especially now when it is in the teens during the day with snow on the ground. I run with just my sox on to better replicate the feeling of barefoot running. At 88, I don't run fast or far but the day is a better one when I've done a run.
The only advice I would add to Roger's is for the guys still running, no matter at what level. Don't stop! Don't drop out of running the way you could back in your teens and 20s. In your 60s and 70s the body doesn't come back quite as easily. Keep at it. Enjoy it. Cross train even, but keep regular activity as part of your life. When you do......it's a wonderful life.
Take care,
Tom Coyne
George,
Earl Young
Keep the blog posts coming
Wednesday, January 19, 2022
V 12 N. 6 Is There Life After 80 and Do Runners Inhabit Novels In a Minor Sort of Way?
Here are two pieces that might require you to put on your thinking caps.
Roger Robinson, Then and Now
Several people have recently sent me a copy of an article by Aussie, Masters runner, Roger Robinson that originally appeared in Outside Magazine. It's about life, racing, and living to the hilt after age 80. I think that age is quickly creeping up on many of our readers and some have even arrived on that bus. In the article Robinson talks about a recent experience racing a 3000 meters on the track against all comers and his thoughts about doing that as he was being lapped multiple times. Is it worth it? Are there benefits? Is he being reasonable in his expectations? What are his expectations? Although it did not greatly inspire me to go racing under such conditions, it may inspire you. I think one way to avoid getting passed is to run road races and start on the back row. That way only you will do the passing, unless of course you take off too fast and then all those you thought you had beaten start putting you back where you belong. I've noticed that when they give out awards at races where there are youngsters as well as a few 80 year olds, the audience always seems to want to give a standing ovation when those over 80s stagger up to get their awards. Is it to congratulate them for longevity, willingness to get out there at their age, or what? Why should we feel any different from a youngster who got third place?Often times it is only one person of either gender and I ask, "Who did they beat to merit such applause?" Well, Robinson explains some of this from his point of view. Roger Robinson, Living Old to Run Link.
And while I have your attention I wanted to share this query with you from John Cobley the astute writer of the blog racingpast.ca. If you have a thought or better still an answer to John's question you can send it this way at irathermediate@gmail.com Respondents will receive a 'free' subscription to this blog.
Bizarre Runner Depicted in a Respected Novel
It’s not difficult to find a novel about
runners--Echenoz’s recent book on Zatopek comes to mind--but I can’t recall
ever finding a novel with a runner as a minor character. Until now.
And what a strange character this runner
is.
I have just been reading The Fox in the Attic by Richard Hughes
for a book group. The novel was published in 1961 to high critical acclaim. It
was to be the first book of a trilogy, but the third was never completed.
Hughes’s novel is set in 1923 and compares
British and German cultures following WW1. The first half of the book is set in
England, while the second takes place in Germany and features a young Adolf
Hitler as a character.
The runner appears near the end of the
novel when the central character, Augustine, is being guided around the
Bohemian district of Munich. Reinhold, his guide, sees the runner “at the top
of a tall lamp-post, squatting cross-legged on the very lamp itself.” We are
told that at this moment the runner is listening to the snoring of a “burgher”
through an upstairs window. Reinhold calls to him, “Come down, Jacinto, and
have a drink with us horrible Philistines! Help us to wash out our sins.” But
Jacinto “only shook his head slightly, finger to the lips.”
Although winter, Jacinto is dressed “only
in vest and running shorts.” Hughes describes him as “a dark young man, who
looked like a prentice yogi.” The guide then tells Augustine, “Jacinto’s a
young Brazilian sculptor of distinct promise. He’s also a first-class
professional runner: he lives for his art but runs for his living.”
Jacinto’s unusual artistic interests are
explained by Reinhold, the guide: “He would now appear to be cultivating a
connoisseurship in snoring. Doubtless he sprints from superlative snorer to
snorer all over the city. I bet he’s just finished his rounds.”
After this explanation to Augustine,
Reinhold again calls Jacinto down, and when the runner slides to the ground, he
is asked, “Tell me, is it possible to translate the essential rhythms of a
snore like that into marble?”
Once inside a café, Jacinto asks Augustine,
“Can you run?” When Augustine answers, “Yes…no, I mean not like you,” Jacinto
is relieved: “Then I needn’t challenge you when I’d far rather get drunk.” But
he still questions Augustine: “If you don’t run what do you do? I mean for a
living.” Reinhold interrupts here: “He snores.” Jacinto takes this joke
seriously: “Impossible! He hasn’t the nose.”
Finally Jacinto argues aesthetics with
Augustine and completely dominates the discussion, partly because he doesn’t
listen to Augustine’s ideas and partly because Augustine is quickly overcome by
the strength of the Munich beer.
Then, after just 3½ pages Jacinto
disappears from the novel.
Richard Hughes wrote this novel in the UK during the 1950s. He would of course have been familiar with Roger Bannister’s achievements. As well, he would probably have been aware of Zatopek and Pirie. But I suspect his idea of a runner-character was initiated by Dr. Otto Peltzer, the celebrated German runner of the 1920s. Peltzer became well-known to the British in that decade after running brilliantly at London’s Stamford Bridge in 1926. He was also known to be an eccentric, carrying around a large bag of “medicines” wherever he went. But if Peltzer was Hughes’s original inspiration for Jacinto, I can’t explain why he chose to make him a Brazilian. After all, Hughes was using Jacinto to illustrate the art movement in post-WW1 Germany. Nevertheless, I think he made Jacinto a runner because he clearly thought running to be an eccentric activity—a common attitude in the UK before the 1970s running boom.
Does anyone out there in in the “Vest”
world know of any other novels where runners are minor characters?
John Cobley
Sunday, January 16, 2022
V 12 N. 5 Rink Babka Silver Medalist/Olympian R.I.P.
Russ Reabold of Trojan Force just notified me of the passing of Rink Babka.
Education: Menlo College, University of Southern California, Palo Alto High Schoo
The following essay by Rink Babka appeared in the Palo Alto High School website honoring Olympians who have attended that institution.
THAT TEAR - by Rink A. Babka
That Tear – is priceless to acquire. The prerequisites are few but demand conviction, courage and commitment.
That Tear – has a vision: The view of the dream of excellence and the focus of hard work and demanding improvement.
That Tear – you see from the eye of the Olympian is in fact the True Spirit of the Games, never to be seen any place else. No other sport or assembly can claim it. Only a camera can capture it.
That Tear- may be irrelevant to others since they cannot buy it. Only the Olympian has earned it. This true expression from the perfection, pride and privilege of dedication to have struggled, knowing they had done their best at that moment in time. The entry fee is free.
That Tear – in fact is the Olympic experience. The spirit of the lasting reminder of one’s wonder of their inner self; both collectively with one’s soul and the Olympic Flame that will never burn out.
That Tear – the spirit of true emotion will be with the Olympian for life. That is God’s gift – a greater gift than the medal itself.
What a shock to see your report on Rink this morning. Just spoke to him last week. We talked regularly.
Rink Babka, Perry O'Brian, Bob Humphreys, Fortune Gordien, Bill Neider, and Dave Davis were all attendees at the Long Beach State winter All-Comers meets. Discus throwers especially liked the aiding wind that visited our campus nearly every evening. Somewhere among my Dad's old 8mm film I have some short clips of O'Brian and Humphreys competing with their Striders uniforms on. Great memories! Darryl Taylor=LBSSC
George,
Jim Metcalf just mentioned that if you click on the blue Al Oerter link in this post that it will take you to every Olympics in which Oerter competed: 1956, 1960, 1964 and 1968. Click on “athletics” and it has every event at each Olympics including all the prelims!
John Perry
Saturday, January 8, 2022
V 12 N. 4 Dean Hayes 57 Years Coach at Middle Tennessee State R.I.P.
DEAN HAYES OBITUARY Link
Another longtime coach Dean Hayes of Middle Tennessee State has passed away. The link above is from the Middle Tennessee State Website.
Dean Hayes
1937-2022
Thanks for posting this. Dean Hayes was absolutely outstanding. A long time ago Steve (Price) and I were at a summer clinic at UT and Steve said about Dean "he looks like the janitor." He said that with reverence because he knew how shrewd he actually was. He often came to Welcome Stadium (Dayton,OH) to recruit, probably seeing Roland McGhee (9-time all American) from Trotwood. How he could make MTSU a T&F powerhouse is remarkable beyond belief, making him so much better than those many who flit from job to job trying to arrive at a school at which they can't lose. Dean turned MTSU into that school. Bill Schnier, U. of Cincinnati (ret'd.)
I believe he competed briefly for the UCTC when I was there in the late 1950's. Is that possible? Ned Price
V 12 N. 3 Barbara Jacket, 1992 US Olympic Team Coach R.I.P.
Barbara Jacket
December 6, 1934 - January 6, 2022
Barbara Jacket, a pioneer in women's track and field and the head coach of the 1992 United States team for the Olympic Games, died January 6, 2022 in Richmond, Texas. She was 87.
An assistant coach for the 1979 Pan American Games squad, Jacket was selected as the head coach for the U.S. women's team at the second IAAF World Championships in Rome, Italy in 1987. She also served on numerous U.S. team staffs at the junior and senior level starting in 1973.
Jacket was a standout athlete at Port Arthur (Texas) Lincoln High School and attended Tuskegee Institute, where she was a thrower on the track and field team under legendary head coach Nell Jackson, the first African American female Olympic head coach. She placed sixth in the shot put and baseball throw at the 1955 AAU national championship meet and was voted her school's Most Outstanding Woman Athlete in 1958.
After graduation from Tuskegee, Jacket earned a master's degree at Prairie View A&M University, where she started the women's track and field program in 1965. Over the next quarter century, her teams won 10 NAIA national titles, eight outdoors and two indoors, as well as nine Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) indoor titles and five outdoor crowns. The school also captured six league cross country titles during her tenure.
Jacket earned recognition as national coach of the year five times in the NAIA and picked up 23 SWAC Coach of the Year awards. In 1990 she was named athletic director at Prairie View, the only female to hold that position in the SWAC, and she served five years at the helm of the Panther programs. Jacket retired from the school in 2010.
Inducted into the Prairie View A&M Sports Hall of Fame in 1992 and the SWAC Hall of Fame in 1993, Jacket is also a member of the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame. She was inducted into the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Coaches Hall of Fame in 2001. Her hometown of Port Arthur named a downtown park in her honor and the Chamber of Commerce named her as a Distinguished Citizen.
Thursday, January 6, 2022
V 12 N. 2 Jud Logan, World Class Hammer Thrower and Coach at Ashland University R.I.P.
Jud Logan was a giant of a man, not only physically but in character as well. He was not only a 4-time Olympian but a Coach-of-the-Year at every level including the national level. He was without peer as a throws coach but when he became a head coach his teams and all events improved dramatically. He approached everything he did with the same zest as he approached his own training as a hammer thrower, and that includes his courageous battle against leukemia. He was kind, thoughtful, and treated everyone with dignity. Bill Schnier, University of Cincinnati
The following tribute to Jud Logan appeared on today's Ashland University Athletics website.
Ashland University and the world of track and field has suffered a significant loss with the passing of Eagle track and field head coach and four-time United States Olympian Jud Logan at age 62.
"Jud Logan personified our mission and vision at Ashland University," said Ashland University President Dr. Carlos Campo. "We promise a transformative experience for students, and Jud delivered that every day in his interactions with student-athletes. His legacy at AU is extraordinary. Countless lives were touched for the better due to his unconquerable spirit and love for others.
"His passing is just shattering news for our campus and beyond, and our prayers are with the entire Logan family."
Said Ashland Director of Athletics Al King, "Words can't adequately capture what Jud Logan meant to this athletic department, university, city and the track and field community. He was a tower of strength physically and spiritually. He had a zest for living and greeted every day and every challenge with gusto. His teams reflected that attitude.
"Our lives have been enriched by the time we had with him."
Logan was in his 17th season as Ashland's head men's and women's track and field coach, and his 28th year with the Eagle program as a whole, starting as an assistant coach. His men won three consecutive NCAA Division II national championships – 2019 indoors and outdoors, and 2021 indoors.
The two 2019 national titles came as Logan was battling B-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.
As a head coach, Logan's Eagle teams earned 42 top-10 national placements, and his pupils won 59 individual national championships.
Jud in Action - Sweden youtube
For all of the success his teams saw, Logan earned the following plaudits:
- Three-time U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Division II men's national indoor Coach of the Year.
- 2019 USTFCCCA men's national outdoor Coach of the Year.
- 2008 USTFCCCA women's national indoor Coach of the Year.
- Five-time USTFCCCA Division II men's Great Lakes Region/Midwest Region indoor Coach of the Year.
- Four-time USTFCCCA Division II men's Great Lakes Region/Midwest Region outdoor Coach of the Year.
- Six-time Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) men's outdoor Coach of the Year.
- Three-time GLIAC men's indoor Coach of the Year.
"I came to Ashland because of Jud Logan," said Ernie Clark, former associate head coach and current assistant coach at NCAA Division I San Jose State. "His vibe. His vision. He wanted to do big things, with the right people, with positivity and enthusiasm. He gave me a chance to be part of that vision and I was blessed to build with him. He became much more than a head coach and colleague. He became one of the best friends I have ever had as an adult. The best mentor I have ever had. And certainly one of the best listeners I have ever met.
"Jud was one of the best throwers in the world. He was one of the best coaches in the world. He leaves the world as one of the best human beings to ever be on the planet. As all of us know, his words, positive vibes, memories, and smiles carry on in all of us. We are all blessed to know him and have him with us in spirit."
Said Malcolm Majesky, Ashland's Head Strength & Conditioning Coach and former Eagle track and field student-athlete, "There are no words I can put together right now to do this man's life justice. He has had such an enormous impact on so many people's lives, and that impact will be felt for generations to come. This won't just be felt by a town or university, this will be felt worldwide.
"He stopped being just my coach a long time ago, but he was family. We love you, Jud."
Logan also was the commencement speaker at the 2021 Ashland University spring graduation ceremony at Jack Miller Stadium/Martinelli Field.
Prior to and during his time with Ashland, Logan was a world-class hammer thrower, having competed on four United States Olympic teams – 1984, 1988, 1992 and 2000. He also competed in the Pan-American Games, the Goodwill Games and World Championships, and at one time, had the American record of 268-feet-8 in the hammer throw. Logan was the 1987 Pan Am Games men's hammer throw champion in Indianapolis, Ind.
Logan was a 2002 inductee in the Ohio Association of Track and Cross Country Coaches Hall of Fame and a 2015 inductee into the National Throws Coaches Association (NTCA) Thrower's Hall of Fame.
Logan was a 1982 Kent State graduate, and a graduate of North Canton Hoover High School.
The Logan family plans to have a private service at this time. They will make an announcement about a celebration for Jud's remarkable life at a later date.
I've included two articles on Jud Logan, the first on his dealing with leukemia and the second a case study on the psychology of throwing the hammer.
Article on Jud's Life with Leukemia
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